By Maria Telesco
Book Review:
Inside the Broken California Prison System by Boston Woodard,B-88207
Boston Woodard’s book is available from www.amazon.com. For more information about this book,see www.brokencaliforniaprison.com.
It’s been a while since I’ve heard California prisons referred to as “country clubs,” an absurdly outrageous politically generated misnomer. When “free people” learn of prisoners,handcuffed and shackled at the ankles,beaten with metal batons by rampaging guards;forced to stand naked,outdoors,in broiling sun or polar cold,for hours on end,for no particular reason;dying in their cells from heart attacks while guards,busy watching TV,refuse to respond to their calls for help until it’s too late,they are appalled. “What third-world country would do that?” they ask. When told the “country” is California,all 33 of its prisons,many shrug as if to say “So what?”
There’s a flaw in our cultural convictions that makes some Americans horrified when they hear of prisoners in other countries being abused like this,while simultaneously they seem to think it’s perfectly acceptable to punish prisoners in our own country with various forms of maltreatment that are not only inhumane and indecent but also in many cases in defiance of international law.
Boston Woodard,Prisoner B-88207,has experienced all these abuses and more,and omits nothing in his first book,
Inside the Broken California Prison System. This 251-page compilation of articles,originally published in the
Community Alliance over the last six years,sweeps the dirt back out from under the rug. Not dramatized,he simply tells it as he sees it,clearly and credibly. The book’s 44 essays display excellent investigative journalism skill and integrity. The appendix lists 39 prison advocacy resources,a virtual goldmine for activists,students and families of prisoners.
I’ve known Boston for upward of 15 years and have visited him a few times. A seventh-grade dropout morphed into a self-educated jailhouse journalist,he has dedicated his quarter-century sojourn to educating “free people” about what really goes on inside. He makes it clear that his writings are not his gripes;he doesn’t whine. Nor does he write because of,or about,“prisoners’ rights”—in reality,they have none,since the First and Eighth Amendments carry little clout inside prison walls.
Rather,he writes to enforce the public’s right to know what their tax dollars are being wasted on:a huge,corrupt and dysfunctional prison system that serves no useful purpose. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation neither corrects nor rehabilitates. An employee,who must remain anonymous,says it should more accurately be named the “Department of Corruption and Revenge.”
“Know the truth and the truth shall set you free,” the Bible says—unless you’re telling the truth about the prison you’ve been in for decades,in which case it will get you thrown in the “Hole” (solitary confinement),beaten up by vengeful guards,fed starvation rations and once again be granted the privilege of watching the “Goon Squad” demolish your few personal possessions.
What do you call a man who knows the truth and reports it,not just once,but hundreds of times,fully aware that his “reward” will be abuse? What makes him tick?
Prison authorities call him Liar and Troublemaker. Prisoners I visit,with whom I’ve discussed Woodard’s articles,have called him Glutton for Punishment,Hero and Crusader. Mike Rhodes,
Community Alliance editor,calls him Journalist. I call him Poster Boy,who proves a formerly semi-literate,once-violent criminal can educate,reform,rehabilitate and redeem himself,with no help from the “system,” and become a productive citizen. I also call him Dear Friend.
Boston Woodard,B-88207,is all that and more. So what does make him tick? A hunger for true justice? A thirst to reveal evil and corruption in the prison-industrial-complex? He has been in several California prisons,moved from one “joint” to another whenever a warden gets fed up with his revelations. Boston has personally experienced,or witnessed,the events he writes about. He is dedicated to bringing his knowledge of the truth,previously well-concealed by the power structure,to the surface,to inform the public of the inhumane cruelties their tax dollars’ support.
I’ve been inside many prisons in California,other states of the United States and Great Britain,as a visitor,a volunteer,a journalist and an investigator with medical-legal teams. I’ve seen enough to make my skin crawl:prisoners who were beaten nearly to a pulp by vengeful guards;prisoners with physical disabilities whom guards repeatedly “accidentally” tripped and caused to fall. I’ve heard the lies concocted by public information officers (PIOs) to cover up beatings and other misdeeds. I’ve seen and heard enough to enable me to vouch for the veracity of Woodard’s stories.
Many U.S. prisons are new,shiny and state-of-the-art,but prisoners are treated no better than cattle at a slaughterhouse. Treating prisoners with ordinary human decency is considered “coddling” and offends “tough-on-crime” devotees. The predominant attitude among Americans seems to be that “they committed a crime so they deserve to suffer.”
The apparent goal of imprisonment in the United States,and particularly in California,is to humiliate and dehumanize. Staff appear to want to make prisoners,while inside,meaner,angrier and more violent than they were before incarceration,leading to recidivism. That,in turn,provides eternal jobs for members of the cartel that calls itself an association:the CCPOA (California Correctional Peace Officers Union),aka the guards.
Some prisons (not all) in the United Kingdom are old and the cement is crumbling,but in all that I’ve seen there,prisoners are treated with respect and dignity. The goal in the United Kingdom and other industrialized countries is to educate the inmate and prepare him to leave prison a better person than he was when he entered,so that he will not reoffend.
Woodard says,“The convict always gives respect to those prison staff [and all others] who display respect,” which is how I observed inmate/staff relationships in the United Kingdom. He says,“I just want the guards and prison officials to do what is demanded of me and every other prisoner in the system,and that is to obey the law and follow the regulations.”
The book is available from the
Community Alliance and at
www.amazon.com.
